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Synopsis of a Paper given to the European Society, King's College
London Friday 2nd February 2007
The Society asked: “Is the Constitutional Treaty the first step towards democracy; and what is your vision of a future Europe?”
The Treaty is a further step towards fully democratic and accountable European institutions. Parliamentary democracy was the backbone of the EU, from the Coal and Steel Community in 1951, then as the Economic Community from the Treaty of Rome in 1957, until “Maastricht” in 1992. 6 members had become 9. The change from Community to Union introduced ratification by referendum.
With 27 members in 2007, such a change in scale necessitated further rule changes. Hence the Constitutional Treaty and the power of the referendum. This is constitutionally either obligatory, or inhibited as in the German Federal Republic, or optional to a head of government to exploit as a judgement – with France on 2 occasions, the second with a negative result, and the UK 3 times.
The promise of a referendum was successfully held by Harold Wilson in 1975. In 1998 and in 2003 Tony Blair promised a referendum. On both occasions he simply abandoned the idea. In effect, the people of France decided against the Treaty on behalf of both France and the UK. The people of the Netherlands decided for themselves.
The member states have to take responsibility for the current sclerosis and the futility of alternating sessions between Brussels and Strasbourg. The EP elections are on different days of the week, and each has its own electoral process to select and elect MEPs.
This is a pity. The European Parliament is special for its Europe-wide electorate. The UK could and should have adopted the key points of the 1998 Jenkins Report: single member constituencies and proportionate results through a list system.
The Council of Ministers represents the national departments of government through appointees of the head of government - in theory answerable to the national parliament - recommended further by the Treaty. In practice it is mainly the special committees of the House of Lords that thoroughly scrutinize EU legislation.
The main institution of the EU is the Commission. Again a national prime minister appointments each commissioner: more patronage and, for the UK, wrong as a system.
The Republic of Ireland takes this seriously by appointing its best candidates. The success of Ireland in the EU comes from a positive attitude – attributable to being independent of the UK. The people of Scotland have noticed.
The UK pretends to appoint its best. The late Lord Cockfield was a classic example. His thorough pursuit of detail led to the successful implementation of the Single European Act – and typically his abrupt replacement by Lord Brittan: both should have been Commissioners in their own right.
My main recommendation is that there should be Directors of the Commission, limited to 7 with specific departmental responsibilities best performed at the European level: an ideal number for an effective cabinet meeting. They would be elected on a European scale.
This process of direct election would link the people to the European level of decision-making. It would oblige the candidates to declare a mandate and their professional expertise.
This straightforward proposal – for a limited number of “Director Commissioners” - would advance democracy and accountability at the European level. It would simultaneously define the people of Europe as a coherent Community – a “Demos”.
It would prove that European politics is the property of her people - us, the Europeans. It would prove, above all, that, to paraphrase Harold Macmillan: “European politics can be fun!”
(Fuller Version available here)
John Preston
Revised 4.2.07
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